Australian swimmer Lani Pallister has surprised herself after breaking a world record belonging to American legend Katie Ledecky.
Pallister clocked 7:54.00 in the short-course 800m freestyle on the final day of the World Cup series in Canada.
The 23-year-old’s swim wiped more than three seconds off Ledecky’s previous mark.
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“It’s kind of weird, I never thought I’d individually have a world record,” Pallister said.
“I guess short course is the first step to the goals that I have for the future.”
The result is another sign of things to come for Pallister, who nearly defeated Ledecky in the long-course 800m free at the 2025 world championships.
Pallister is reaping the rewards of a brave coaching switch earlier this year.
She made the tough decision to part ways with her mum Janelle, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and dual Olympian, and link up with Ariarne Titmus’s former mentor Dean Boxall.
“OMG Lani you are amazing,” mum Janelle wrote on Instagram.
“An incredible swim. I’m in awe of you and so proud of you. WORLD RECORD HOLDER.”
Janelle made her own coaching move this year, linking up with Melbourne’s Surrey Park in September, but on Saturday announced she had stepped down to return home to Queensland for personal reasons.
Pallister dominated the short-course race on Saturday local time (Sunday AEDT), winning by more than 15 seconds ahead of New Zealanders Erika Fairwather and Caitlin Deans.
The Australian went out hard, posting a halfway split that would have placed her second in the 400m, only behind her own winning time.
That put her two seconds under world-record pace and she stretched the advantage further in the third 200m before closing out in style.
Meanwhile, Kaylee McKeown lowered her week-old world record in the 200m backstroke at the World Cup event.
McKeown touched in 1:57.33, faster than her 1:57.87 from a week ago, to edge out Regan Smith from the US, who also swam just under McKeown’s previous mark with 1:57.86.
Fellow American Phoebe Bacon closed out the podium but was more than three seconds behind the Aussie star.
McKeown’s win puts her second in the overall World Cup standings and on top for the Toronto meet.
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